We cannot stop toxic pollution without promoting environmental and social justice, because pollution depends on and perpetuates injustice.

People of color and minority communities, people of low socioeconomic status, indigenous communities and nations, people in the global south and other populations that often lack political and economic power are inequitably burdened with pollution from incinerators and dumps. Incinerators and dumps also suck critical funding from impoverished communities and countries that are often struggling to provide for human needs.

Because of this, GAIA's leadership understands that we will never win unless we see our specific mission as inseparable from those of other movements for social and environmental justice. And while the fight to stop an incinerator might be the need that first brings many people to GAIA, most of our members recognize that pollution depends on and perpetuates injustice, and that their struggles can offer a strategic leverage point to advance deeper transformations for equity and ecological sustainability.

For this reason, supporting global justice is the very foundation of our work.